The 89th Academy Awards: Evaluating the Opening Montage

Watching the opening video of the 89thAcademy Awards was like playing a game of SceneIt. It had the same stylized images of film reels, clips of various movies and the same annoying tendency to go on and on without letting you skip ahead to the bits that you are actually interested in.

The original idea for the video clip was absolutely fine. I have no problem with host Billy Crystal preparing jokes in advance with clips from nominated movies. The joke just got carried much too far and lost focus.

The whole TinTin sequence, for example, just seemed more creepy than cute or humorous. The film reels were completely unnecessary. It was though they ran out of ideas of how to include movies (like Puss in Boots), but they wanted to make sure to include every movie conceivably possible.

The appearance of Tom Cruise was also unnecessary. I would have much rather have seen one of the nominated actors or actresses than Tom Cruise, who is famous but not taken overly seriously as an actor.

I’m not sure whether it was Crystal’s idea to be inserted into the movie clips, but his appearance in them actually started off as entertaining and allowed movie clips to be brought in early on. He just didn’t know when to end the joke. For a comedian, they need to know how to build up a joke, give the punchline, then stop and allow the audience to laugh. At the Oscars, Crystal built up, gave the punchline, and then talked…and talked…and talked.

Luckily for Billy Crystal he started dancing around stage and singing after the video ended. He saved himself as a presenter by completely switching gears and singing his humor rather than relying on overly scripted videos. (Once again he probably went on too long, even if he did add jazz hands at the end.)

Billy Crystal has hosted the Oscars more often than anyone else, so we’ll see if he’s invited back for the 90th Academy Awards next year.


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